Help me change foods!!

[The Food Group]

Wendell is almost 12 weeks old and when we brought him home he was on Purina Puppy Chow. We waited the 2 weeks and then switched him to Kirkland Signature Puppy food because it had a good rating on dogfoodadvisor.com. After further research on DK, I have discovered that Kirkland's is not an ideal choice for Wendell and he barely eats it as well......

We are a young family and need to be budget conscious, but I understand that puppies require less of the higher quality foods to meet their caloric needs. 

I have been looking at Orijen and Fromms. My question is: Orijen is quite a bit more expensive than Fromms, but is it worth the extra $$ if they are both quality foods? Do you really feed that much less of the Orijen than Fromms to justify the difference in price because Orijen is all grain-free? Like I said before, cost is an issue, but we want to give Wendell the best we can manage. 

I'd also be interested to hear about other food brands that work for you regarding food ideals and budget.

Thanks in advance!

[Stephanie and Ragley]

My puppy, Ragley, is 5 months old, about 37 lbs, and she eats Orijen puppy and thrives on it. She eats about 2.25-2.5 cups per day. I just give that as a realistic eating estimate for the food. Acana (made by same company as Orijen) is know for being a little less expensive, but it honestly juust depends which formula you buy. Some of the Acana formulas are more expensive than Orijen's adult formula for example. I don't have any personal experience with Fromm so I don't feel comfortable counseling you on them.

A food brand that doesn't get discussed on here as often is Earthborn Holistics. It is on the recommended list and they have many grain free options. That is the food I feed to our family's great pyrenees and she loves it- I mean LOVES it. I definitely noticed a change in her coat, body condition, etc when I switched her over (she was on beneful before- yuck). I find it to be extremely budget friendly and on top of that, I order it online and it ships for free on autoship and there is no tax. She was eating about 9-10 cups per day of beneful and now she is on the primitive naturals formula of Earthborn and eats a little over four cups per day. That is a giant difference.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Here is a link to a cost comparison of several foods, including the two you asked about: 

http://www.fidosmarket.com/the-cost-of-food/

Although it will depend on which Fromm formula you choose, in this example, it is fromm's Surf & Turf, and the cost per day came out significantly more than the cost of Orijen. This is entirely due to feeding less, and therefore buying fewer bags in the same time span.

Another option would be one of the Acana formulas. Acana is made by the same company as Orijen, with the same quality control, but it is priced slightly less because the protein content is lower. Meat costs more than vegetables, lol. Still an excellent choice.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I compared feeding amounts of Orijen Adult versus two of the Acana regionals formulas, and you still feed less with Orijen. It had about 55 calories more per cup than either of the Acana formulas I looked at. 

[Joy and Forest]

I stay sime and feed Canidae as it's cheaper and still a healthy dog food option!
Remember to change up the good every 3 months though as it's not good to feed the
same food for their entire life. I go between Canidae's Chicken and Rice to
their Lamb one. Most nutritionists recommend actually changing brands, but that's
harder. Good luck!

[Tina McNerthney]

Thanks for posting this Kate. I'm getting a pup in 6 weeks and I'm in the same space as you. I am thinking of purchasing Acana for our puppy. The breeder feeds the puppies Kirkland signature. It's not on the recommended list but it's certainly not the worst food either. After doing research, as others suggested, I discovered that the higher quality foods are richer in protein and content that requires smaller quantities. I noticed that the actual difference in cost between Kirkland Signature and something like Acana won't actually be very much. I'm interested to research Earthborn Holistics, too. Thanks, Stephanies for that tip. I'm curious to learn what food you decide on for Wendell. When it comes down to it, your puppy may make the decision for you. He may prefer one of the options to the other. I like Acana because I think there are a couple of options to choose from to switch it up a bit and it's a bit less costly than Orijen. Acana does not make a specific puppy food, as far as I can see, though. I've heard mixed comments about whether feeding puppy food to a young one is important or not such a big deal...